In a typical wireless communication system or access network, an area is divided geographically into a number of coverage areas (e.g., cells and cell sectors), each defined by a radiation pattern from one or more base station antennae. As an access terminal moves between coverage areas of an access network, or when an access terminal transfers a communication session between coverage areas for any other reason, a “handoff” from a “source” or “serving” coverage area to a “target” coverage area may be performed. In a typical case, the handoff process is triggered by the access terminal monitoring the signal strength that it receives from the various available coverage areas, and the access terminal and/or a radio network controller (RNC) determining that one or more threshold criteria are met such that a handoff should be performed.
A handoff of a communication session may require transfer of information at several levels. For instance, the source and target sectors that are involved in a handoff may be served by different base stations, which in turn may be served by different RNCs. In this scenario, a handoff from the source sector to the target sector may require a transfer of session information from the source RNC to the target RNC and a transfer from the source base station to the target base station. Alternatively, the source and target sectors may be served by different base stations that are served by the same RNC. In this scenario, a transfer of session information between RNCs may not be required. Further, in the event a handoff is between sectors served by the same base station, a transfer between base stations may also be unnecessary.
To facilitate the transfer of information between RNCs, a base station may send an access terminal a “quickconfig” message, which includes a color code that identifies the RNC serving the base station. When the access terminal receives a quickconfig including a color code that differs from the color code included in its last received quickconfig message, the access terminal may attempt to establish a session with the RNC identified by the new color code (in the event the access terminal is not already engaged in a session) or may attempt to handoff to the RNC identified by the new color code (if a session is already in progress).